THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death
camp, with its own death row and execution chamber.

Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving
its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal,
The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday.

The plans were revealed by Major-General Geoffrey Miller, who is
in charge of 680 suspects from 43 countries, including two
Australians.

The suspects have been held at Camp Delta on Cuba without charge
for 18 months.

General Miller said building a death row was one plan. Another
was to have a permanent jail, with possibly an execution
chamber.

The Mail on Sunday reported the move is seen as logical
by the US, which has been attacked worldwide for breaching the
Geneva
Convention on prisoners of war since it established the
camp at a naval base to hold alleged terrorists from
Afghanistan.

But it has horrified human rights groups and lawyers
representing detainees.

They see it as the clearest indication America has no intention
of falling in line with internationally recognised justice.

The US has already said detainees would be tried by tribunals,
without juries or appeals to a higher court. Detainees will be
allowed only US lawyers.

British activist Stephen Jakobi, of
Fair Trials
Abroad, said: "The US is kicking and screaming against
any pressure to conform with British or any other kind of
international justice."

American law professor Jonathan Turley, who has led US civil
rights group protests against the military tribunals planned to
hear cases at Guantanamo Bay, said: "It is not surprising the
authorities are building a death row because they have said they
plan to try capital cases before these tribunals.

"This camp was created to execute people. The administration has
no interest in long-term prison sentences for people it regards
as hard-core terrorists."

Britain admitted it had been kept in the dark about the plans.

A Downing St spokesman said: "The US Government is well aware of
the British Government's position on the death penalty."